Not even the EPA wants to get a carectomy. Considering their recent actions, it seems the agency is in bed with the auto industry, not the environment.
Senator Barbara Boxer, chair of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on the Environment and Public works, released further evidence yesterday against top EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson. Ignoring the unanimous sentiments of his staff, Johnson undermined his colleagues—and the law—to stop tailpipe emissions laws from passing in at least 16 states, including California. The laws aimed to lower greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks by a third.
From the NPR News Blog:
…The Johnson decision made the White House and the automobile industry happy.
Boxer says the evidence – which includes talking points prepared for a senior official in the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality for a meeting with Johnson – illustrates how opposed the senior staff was to his decision.
Beyond a doubt, Johnson’s credibility is now in the toilet. His agency, meanwhile, is in turmoil.
Boxer told a press conference:
These documents paint a picture of an Environmental Protection Agency in crisis. They show the dedicated professional staff of the EPA working hard to do what they are paid to do by the American people – protect our health and our environment. At the same time, we see more and more evidence of Administrator Johnson ignoring the science and the facts, and discarding the advice of his professional staff.
While Boxer is investigating Johnson’s shady dealings, G.W. Bush is supporting his administrator’s actions.
Bush told the Associated Press:
The question is how to have an effective strategy. Is it more effective to let each state make a decision as to how to proceed in curbing greenhouse gases or is it more effective to have a national strategy?
The air we breathe knows no bounds. Emissions laws should be federal domain, but where’s the harm if individual states want to ensure they have clean air, too? The U.S. needs a unified policy on cars and carbon, akin to that in the U.K. But, if bureaucrats have anything to do with it, we’ll never see it in the can.
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